Belasik clinic
With Paul Belasik this morning. This is the clinician I had audited last March at UNH.
I decided today was a good time to stop indulging my nerves and practice being calm, cool and collected. I think it worked, once I tacked up, hopped on Clover and rode into the arena, I felt pretty good. Ready to try and focus and rise to the occasion, instead of dissolving in nerves.
Paul asked about my and Clover's experience and what would we like to work on. I told him that I'd started her as a late two year old, and all the holes in her training were ones I put there myself. I told him we were a perpetual training level dressage/novice level eventing pair. That I wanted to continue getting her sharper to the aids, more forward, but also to follow the rein. That I needed help with use and timing of the aids. That I was stiff and tended to lock up on Clover, which causes her to resist.
We showed him our warm up, starting out longer and lower, trying to get her forward and responsive to the aids before picking her up to do some work. He commented that my position wasn't too bad, that I needed to strengthen my core (thighs, back, abs) in order to get her to respond to the aids correctly, for example not letting her fall apart in down transitions. Also that having stronger seat and abs would help my lower legs stay still at the sitting trot. He also said that it was important to hold a correct position, that he'd rather see a rider on the stiff side than a rider that bobs around.
We spent a lot of time on the sitting trot—after we'd warmed up, I did no posting trot at all. We did a lot of sitting trot-walk transitions up and down. The point was to get me to ask Clover to move bigger at the sitting trot and keep her uphill, with her poll up, to learn how to use my core and the aids correctly. I got the ok to use both reins evenly to raise her head when it got low, as long as I followed it up with impulsion. If she got heavy in the trot, then use transitions to get her going again. I got a few reminders to keep my shoulders open and my lower legs quiet, and other than that I was just told to keep working on getting our left side more supple.
I half expected to hear about the length of my stirrups (I don't ride with extremely lengthened stirrups like some people prefer in dressage), or the fact that my horse is heavy on the forehand, or that I was too stiff, etc., but none of that came to pass. I did get told that Clover was ready to move up to the next level, and in order to do that I had to power up our training by asking her to move bigger and with her poll up once we warmed up. Boost up our riding. He said that Clover is capable of better movement than she lets on!
He had us finish up with some canter work, and said that I could slow the tempo while working on keeping Clover's poll up, not let her travel long and low, but up and out in the neck. Also to judiciously use a briefly raised inside rein to get her to bend and soften in the canter. Down transitions to trot meant being even stronger in the abs.
Frankly, it went a lot better than I expected, and it reinforced the work Janet's been doing with us. It was a great way to start the season, with a good foot forward on the right track—just as I was thinking that this would be a good season to push the envelope now that Clover is physically and mentally mature. Maybe we can at least start to school first level dressage and training level eventing.
I decided today was a good time to stop indulging my nerves and practice being calm, cool and collected. I think it worked, once I tacked up, hopped on Clover and rode into the arena, I felt pretty good. Ready to try and focus and rise to the occasion, instead of dissolving in nerves.
Paul asked about my and Clover's experience and what would we like to work on. I told him that I'd started her as a late two year old, and all the holes in her training were ones I put there myself. I told him we were a perpetual training level dressage/novice level eventing pair. That I wanted to continue getting her sharper to the aids, more forward, but also to follow the rein. That I needed help with use and timing of the aids. That I was stiff and tended to lock up on Clover, which causes her to resist.
We showed him our warm up, starting out longer and lower, trying to get her forward and responsive to the aids before picking her up to do some work. He commented that my position wasn't too bad, that I needed to strengthen my core (thighs, back, abs) in order to get her to respond to the aids correctly, for example not letting her fall apart in down transitions. Also that having stronger seat and abs would help my lower legs stay still at the sitting trot. He also said that it was important to hold a correct position, that he'd rather see a rider on the stiff side than a rider that bobs around.
We spent a lot of time on the sitting trot—after we'd warmed up, I did no posting trot at all. We did a lot of sitting trot-walk transitions up and down. The point was to get me to ask Clover to move bigger at the sitting trot and keep her uphill, with her poll up, to learn how to use my core and the aids correctly. I got the ok to use both reins evenly to raise her head when it got low, as long as I followed it up with impulsion. If she got heavy in the trot, then use transitions to get her going again. I got a few reminders to keep my shoulders open and my lower legs quiet, and other than that I was just told to keep working on getting our left side more supple.
I half expected to hear about the length of my stirrups (I don't ride with extremely lengthened stirrups like some people prefer in dressage), or the fact that my horse is heavy on the forehand, or that I was too stiff, etc., but none of that came to pass. I did get told that Clover was ready to move up to the next level, and in order to do that I had to power up our training by asking her to move bigger and with her poll up once we warmed up. Boost up our riding. He said that Clover is capable of better movement than she lets on!
He had us finish up with some canter work, and said that I could slow the tempo while working on keeping Clover's poll up, not let her travel long and low, but up and out in the neck. Also to judiciously use a briefly raised inside rein to get her to bend and soften in the canter. Down transitions to trot meant being even stronger in the abs.
Frankly, it went a lot better than I expected, and it reinforced the work Janet's been doing with us. It was a great way to start the season, with a good foot forward on the right track—just as I was thinking that this would be a good season to push the envelope now that Clover is physically and mentally mature. Maybe we can at least start to school first level dressage and training level eventing.
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